Our Green Initiatives

In order to offer our clientele a burial option that corresponds more closely to environmental values, we have developed Remembrance Grove, a section reserved for the burial of ashes in biodegradable containers under young trees of native species. In addition to being a more environmentally friendly burial option, Remembrance Grove is a way to help increase the city’s forest cover, thereby improving air quality and biodiversity.

Our cemetery covers 343 acres of land. Maintaining the lawn on this huge surface is a long, polluting and costly operation. For several months, lawn tractors, trimmers and other noisy equipment have been at work throughout the day. In order to increase biodiversity and reduce our ecological footprint, we will gradually replace a significant portion of non-burial grass areas with perennial coverings (native grasses and flowers). This change will provide a more favourable environment for developing biodiversity.

Every year, our cemetery welcomes several hundred thousand people who come to visit the grave of a loved one and who often plant annuals to decorate their grounds. These activities are welcome, but they result in piles of waste that we have to collect and dispose of later. As is the case in many other cemeteries, visitors to Notre-Dame-des-Neiges are now responsible for bringing back their garbage when they leave the site in order to reduce pollution and make the site more pleasant for everyone.

We have taken on a project to remove asphalt from certain surfaces including a section near the Remembrance entrance.

Asphalt surfaces contribute to rainwater runoff which, in turn, can cause flooding and sewer overflows and cause waterway pollution. Climate change is exacerbating these harmful effects.

Removing asphalt restores the soil's natural absorption capacity, helping to improve water management by limiting runoff. In addition, asphalt can be replaced by plants and trees, which help to cool the ambient air - a significant advantage in the city - and filter pollutants from water and air.

To limit our electricity consumption, we have replaced the compact fluorescent bulbs in our mausoleums with LED lighting, which is more durable and less energy-consuming. This lighting system is currently controlled by motion detectors to limit electricity consumption, hence the corridors and areas within our mausoleums are lit up only when needed.

Due to the size of our site, we use a fleet of vehicles to maintain the grounds, transport equipment and people, and guide funeral processions. When a vehicle reaches the end of its life and its functions allow it, we replace it with an equivalent electric vehicle in order to limit our greenhouse gas emissions.

Each year, several employees maintain the roads, trees, lawns and landscaping of the 340-acre Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery. More than 500 tree-related procedures are carried out, including felling, pruning, tree planting and bracing.

In addition to prevention and special care for trees with insect infestations and problematic diseases, the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery has been particularly active in fighting the emerald ash borer since 2010. All trees are treated and monitored rigorously.

In addition, a recent project allowed us to have those that could not be saved turned into eco-friendly urns and beautiful wooden benches (now installed in our mausoleums), thanks to proper care by the circular economy company Bois Public.

Following numerous ruptures in the existing water system, resulting in the waste of very large quantities of water, we decided to replace this outdated system with an eco-responsible water distribution network. This network is composed of over twenty non-drinking water tanks made available to visitors of the cemetery for the watering of their flowers. This measure has made it possible to save considerable quantities of drinking water that was flowing down the mountain while maintaining the possibility for customers to water the flowers planted on their plot. Please note that the water tanks will be available as of the 3^rd week of May until the end of October. Furthermore, these tanks are filled at least twice a week.

Over the next few years, the cemetery plans to recover rainwater and runoff water to meet all its needs and those of its customers and visitors in an environmentally friendly way.

The cemetery also collaborates tightly with Les amis de la montagne, which organized the first meeting of Mount Royal's institutional owners about the ecological management of their property from a sustainable development perspective on December 1, 2020. This meeting identified the main development issues related to biodiversity and landscape quality on Mount Royal, including landscape and ecological planning, maintenance and waste management, energy efficiency and accessibility.